PERCY JACKSON AND THE CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS
by Tidustide
Summary: Once again Percy and his friends are dragged into a quest for the gods. But this time, it involves everybody. They must face the trials of death and venture to the Caucasus mountains... where death or help awaits them. My version of book 5
1. I get an early bday pressie from a pigeo

Percy Jackson and the Caucasus Mountains

**Percy Jackson and the Caucasus Mountains**

**1: I get an early birthday present from a pigeon**

You know, I've always thought doing title pages in exercise books was a waste of paper… or trees, for that matter. My English teacher didn't think so. In fact, I got detention for not doing one. "My classes exist to extend your creativity, and to do so you have to start off with the little things," she had said when I tried to say that I had better things to do. I even came up with the idea that she must be a monster, she bored me to death! Speaking of monsters, I'd had loads of encounters with them this year. From sphinxes to manticores, and griffons to gigantes, I fought them all. It had been a pretty full on year for me, both at school and the monster killing department. But really… I mean, come on! Title pages are for elementary school kids! But it wasn't really big news to me. It _was_ Dirkwood's academy for the challenged… which really meant Dirkwood's academy for the mentally challenged. Emphasis on the 'mentally'. So there I was, at home at seven o'clock at night, staring down at a blank page in my notebook. I must have sat there for at least half an hour and I still hadn't done a thing on it. Not to mention that we weren't allowed to use the computer for it. Breathing out a sigh of intense frustration I leaned back on my chair, rocking backwards and forwards on it. Why was I here doing this when I had more important things to do, like saving the world from the approaching tyranny of Lord Kronos who had somehow returned from Tartarus to unleash ultimate chaos into the world? Oh, and did I mention that he's using Luke's body as his own and is wielding an extremely dangerous weapon that can kill both gods and mortals? And here I am worrying about a title page.

"Percy? Do you want some chocolate chip cookies?" my mom called out to me from the kitchen and immediately I caught a whiff of the delicious scent.

"Yeah sure! Thanks!" I called back to her.

Then what I saw next freaked me out so much I leaned on my chair too much that I fell back on it. Groaning, I sat up. Instantly my fear melted away as I saw the cause for the huge shadow taking up the majority of my bedroom wall. There at the window was a blue pigeon, flecked with white spots. I raised an eyebrow at this. Oookaaay. Now that was something you don't see everyday. I picked myself off the floor and strode over to the window, shoving aside a number of things like my skateboard, basketball, radio and a bunch of other stuff. As I approached it, I noticed that the pigeon had something tied to its leg with red string. I cautiously opened the window (slowly so I wouldn't frighten the pigeon) and let it in. At once, in a flurry of wings it landed on top of my desk and… would you believe it? It pooped! That's what I got for letting it in? _Great, an early birthday present,_ I thought irritably.

Disgruntled, I grabbed for the little envelope tied to its leg. As if sensing my mood, it dodged my hand.

"Come here, you!"

Unfortunately, we kept that up for a long time until my mom came in with the blue cookies. Distracted by the newcomer, the pigeon's attention turned to my mom and I finally caught it. Caught by surprise, it raked my arm with its feet and I dropped the envelope in pain.

"Ow!"

"What… Percy, what's going on? And is that… a blue pigeon with white spots?" my mom asked incredulously.

"Uh… yeah."

Trying to ignore the pain in my arm I picked up the envelope from the floor. It had my name and address on the front and a wax seal on the back. I stared at the seal. On it was the symbol of Athena: an owl. My hands shaking slightly (well, Athena _had_ put me down on her 'possibly dangerous' list), I opened the envelope. In it was a piece of paper:

_The greatest sin is to be foolish_

_The greatest evil is thought_

_And the greatest gift is wisdom_

_Remember that, Perseus Jackson_

I don't know how long I stared at the message for; all I knew was that I didn't know what to feel. Should I feel angry? Annoyed? Grateful for the message?... maybe not that.

"Percy? Percy? Are you all right?"

My mom's voice brought me back to reality. I turned to face her.

"Huh? Oh… mom. Yeah, sorry, the pigeon just sent me a letter."

"Really? Is it from Camp Half-blood? What does it say?" she asked anxiously. Recently, my mom had gotten a little overprotective about me, ever since the number of monsters attacking me had reached its high peak.

I hesitated. It wasn't really important… the message I mean. But at the same time, I didn't really want her to know that Athena and I weren't on the best of terms. She had enough on her mind, what with her upcoming marriage to Paul Blofis, her boyfriend.

"Uh… yeah… it just says congrats on you and Paul's wedding and to watch out for monsters and stuff…" I lied.

My mom's mouth stretched into her smile and her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit as it always did when the subject of Paul came up. "Oh, really? That's kind of them. Well, as long as it's not something urgent, you should finish your homework before Paul gets here…" she said, and stopping at the door she continued with a mischievous smile. "… oh, and Annabeth's coming too."

"What?" I said, dropping the letter. "But… I thought she was in San Francisco!"

"Of course."

"She's coming all the way over here just to be at my _birthday party?_"

"Well, yeah," my mom answered, copying my words from last year when we were discussing my 'date' with Annabeth. "Why?"

"Never mind," I said, rolling my eyes. For some reason, my heart was pounding so hard that I could feel the pulse in my neck.

Then I stopped. "Wait… but isn't Rachel coming too?"

My mom nodded.

"Oh great."

She winked this time and exited my room, leaving me feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing.


	2. 2: Campers and friends lighten up my par

2: Campers and friends lighten up my party

**2: Campers and friends lighten up my party**

As it was, I didn't get to finish my homework.

I was too busy trying not to make my room look like a total pig sty. I know, I know. But I did want to show my friends (and Paul) a decent looking house at least. I helped my mom around the house, setting the table, cleaning mirrors, stuff like that. After all that, I sat on the couch, munching on some pizza… yeah, I stole some before the party. What can I say? I'm a growing boy. Besides, it was my mom's idea to have my birthday party earlier so I wouldn't have to wait in anticipation. I figured that I wouldn't really be in the mood to celebrate it anyway when the time came. Better to celebrate it earlier on and make it a lasting memory. Anyway, after about a quarter of an hour, I heard a knock on the door. Grinning broadly, I went over and opened the door to be tackled by Tyson, my half brother.

"Woa! Tyson, good to see you too… uh, can you let me go now?" I managed to gasp.

"Oh… sorry," said Tyson, releasing me from his crushing grip.

It was only then I realized there was another person behind him: Paul Blofis.

He smiled at me, a hand in his pocket and he stretched out a hand to me. I shook it, smiling back.

"Hello Percy. Happy birthday and congratulations on turning sixteen!" he said heartily.

I winced inwardly. It was another reminder of the deadly prophecy. I forced myself to grin at him.

"Thanks…" then I remembered my manners. "Oh, yeah, please. Come in."

Paul chuckled and entered with Tyson, who went bonkers when he saw the food. Fortunately my mom stopped him from touching any. Not long after their arrival, there was another knock on the door and I opened it again to reveal Annabeth. I swallowed.

She grinned, her honey blonde hair let down in curls. A little more tanned than before, but still Annabeth. For a moment, I was struck dumb. Then I found my voice.

"Hey Annabeth, long time no see."

"Ditto. How've you been?" she asked, stepping inside.

"Oh, just fine. I've only been attacked by like, a hundred monsters every month?"

Her smile slipped slightly. "You too?"

"Yeah… hey listen-"I started, but what I was about to say was drowned out by Tyson's shouting. We turned to see Tyson charging towards us… to throw his arms around Annabeth.

"Oof!" Annabeth said, her voice muffled.

When Tyson let go, it took a while for Annabeth to catch her breath. I smirked a little. She rolled her eyes at me, but even she couldn't resist smiling. "Hi to you too Tyson. Just… next time, try not to hug me so hard."

"Okay. But I was so glad to see Annabeth!" He clapped his hands excitedly. "Ooh, I wonder who is coming next! Let's have a guessing game Percy!"

"Um… okay then big guy."

"Yay!"

Annabeth turned to stifle a laugh. It was then that I noticed she was carrying a pretty big backpack.

"Uh, Annabeth, why are you carrying a backpack?"

She turned to raise an eyebrow at me. "What do you mean why? I'm staying at your place until we go back to camp, remember?"

"WHAT?!" I asked… and pretty loudly, if I do say so myself.

I couldn't speak and I couldn't believe it.

Annabeth waved a hand in front of my face. I snapped out of it and stared at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"My mom asked you to, didn't she?"

"Well, duh. Who else?"

I shook my head. _Next time I am _so_ going to have a word with mom before she does anything like this again, _I thought to myself… if there was a next time.

For the next few minutes, Annabeth, Tyson, Paul, mom and I killed some time before Rachel and Grover came. We watched T.V, played playstation games, played chess, board games and… yes, pinochle. For just half an hour, it was actually pretty fun. Annabeth wasted me in chess and Monopoly but other than that, I enjoyed it. It was okay, I guess, since I then beat everybody in _Need for Speed Underground 2_. After a while Grover and Rachel came too, each holding a birthday present for me. Rachel seemed to have grown a little and Grover looked a little older.

"Hey G- Man," I said, hi- fiving him.

"Sorry I came late, Chiron needed me to do a favor for him," he said sheepishly.

"It's alright, as long as you're here," I reassured him.

Poor guy, was that why he was giving me a bigger present than usual?

I turned to Rachel and I was surprised to find myself sweating a little. Her green eyes sparkled and her frizzy red hair was clipped back. She beamed at me.

"Hi Percy… happy birthday," she said, handing me the present.

"Oh, thanks. And thanks for coming as well."

"No problem, I came late anyway. I should say sorry. I had to finish my art project," she shrugged in apology.

"Never mind, c'mon. Have some- "

BANG! I jumped violently. What the heck?

The door flung open to reveal the Stoll brothers.

"Hey yo what's up man?" said Travis.

I blinked. "Sorry?"

And before I knew what was going on, my apartment was crowded with various campers. Connor and Travis Stoll, Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, Nico, Malcolm and Davin from the Athena Cabin, Darryn Crutch, Eden Archer, the whole Aphrodite Cabin and even Clarisse came, along with Chris Rodriguez. I turned slowly towards my mom, my face displaying my expression of pure shock. _What's going on here? Did you invite them? _I mouthed at my mom. She winked at me. Oh my Gods. It was crazy. Now I had a pile of birthday presents so high that it might as well have been a Christmas tree. The stereo was turned on loudly and campers and friends were partying in my apartment. Even my mom had abandoned her duty as a hostess and began dancing with Paul (which was kind of embarrassing to watch but no one really seemed to care). Maybe it was just my imagination but Annabeth seemed to be on better terms with Rachel. Maybe it was because of the previous events. Quests always manage to draw people closer together. Then I smiled to myself as I thought of the first time I met Annabeth and how after a couple of quests, we'd grown closer. She used to dislike me. I helped myself to some pizza and after loosening up a little, went outside onto the fire escape to get some fresh air. When I stepped outside, I immediately felt better. It had grown dark and cold in contrast to the atmosphere inside. Then I remembered the baby moonlace I planted last year. I kneeled down next to it, studying it. It had grown quite a bit, and now a single flower had bloomed, pale red petals surrounding golden anthers. I probably had the stupidest grin on my face... and that was when Annabeth just _had_ to come out.

"Percy? What are you-?" then she stopped, staring at the flower.

I stood up to meet her. "Oh, uh… it's… it was a present from a friend," I explained lamely.

She didn't say anything.

We stood there in awkward silence. Finally I couldn't take it.

"About the time on Mount St. Helens," we both said at the same time.

Embarrassed, we both looked away. I shuffled my feet.

Then Annabeth turned to lean on the rail.

"What are you going to do about your birthday presents?" she asked suddenly.

"What? Oh…" I said, a little taken aback by the sudden random question. "I guess I'll open them tomorrow…"

She turned to meet my eyes, her grey eyes boring into mine. I sensed that there was something behind that question, more like: _What are you going to do about Kronos, the prophecy and Luke?_

After we stared at each other for a few minutes (it was kind of weird), she turned to look at the crescent moon.

Without looking at me she said, "I made up with my family. You were right; they've gotten a little… cooler."

Then she turned to look at me again and we both burst out laughing. I don't know why we did, but we just did. At the time I had the sudden urge to tell her about the message from her mother, Athena. I wanted to tell her everything- how I was scared of facing the prophecy, how her mother didn't approve of our friendship, that I was glad she was staying at my place, that…

"Percy?"

We both whirled around to see Rachel standing there at the fire exit door. She looked a bit uncomfortable, like she was intruding on something. Then my face reddened as I understood the implications.

"Um… your mom wants you to start opening your presents."

"Oh… okay."

I glanced at Annabeth. She didn't meet my eyes.

"Let's go in."

_**I know that was kind of random but hey, I thought the characters deserved to chill out a bit. Not too cheesy I hope. And uh… please review, I would really appreciate it. The story will pick up the pace in a bit so hang on. )**_


End file.
